After this year's Spring Festival, will we miss New Year's Eve for five consecutive years? It's all because of the "moon"

#There will be no New Year's Eve for 5 consecutive years starting next year#

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It is reported that the Lunar New Year's Eve of the Year of the Dragon will be February 9, 2024, which is "the last New Year's Eve in recent years." Starting from 2025 and until 2029, the New Year's Eve will be "the 29th day of the lunar year" for five consecutive years.

It turns out that this is all the moon's fault

Cheng Zhuo, an associate researcher at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who is responsible for the compilation of the "Chinese Astronomical Calendar", said that the lunar month is mainly based on the cycle of the waxing and waning of the moon. In modern astronomy, it is possible to accurately calculate the cycle of the entire lunar phase change based on the high-precision position model of the moon and the sun, which is about 29.53 days. This cycle is defined as the "synodic month". The lunar month is divided into 30 days and 29 days according to size. If the twelfth lunar month happens to be a short lunar month, there will be no "New Year's Eve".

Image source: Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences

In fact, it is not uncommon for the twelfth lunar month to fall on a short month. "In 2013, 2016, and for five consecutive years from 2025 to 2029, there was no 'New Year's Eve'. However, since 'New Year's Eve' refers to the last night of the year, whether the twelfth lunar month is 29 or 30 days, it will not affect the existence of 'New Year's Eve'. On this day, people get rid of the old and welcome the new, have reunion dinners, stay up all night, worship their ancestors, and enjoy family happiness," said Cheng Zhuo.

Netizen: Interesting knowledge has been gained again.

Finally, let me tell you another magical thing: the first month of the year 2262 is a leap year, so there will be two Spring Festivals in that year.

Source: Xinhuanet, Chinese Academy of Sciences official website, headlines, Xinhua News Agency client, Guangming Daily, netizens’ comments, etc.